Guide clip for slidably attaching sails to stay ropes



Y 194% R. w. COOK GUIDE CLIP FOR SLIDABLY ATTACHING SAILS TO STAY RQPES Filed Dec. 16, 1947 IN V EN TOR. flay/M AVA Z17 W[ 121% pQA/E M/ BY MWZM/ Patented July 19, 1949 GUIDE CLIP FOR SLIDABLY ATTACHING SAILS TO STAY ROPES Raymond W. Cook, Bristol, Conn.; Bristol Bank and Trust Company and Richard B. Cook executors of said Raymond W. Cook, deceased Application December 16, 1947, Serial No. 792,038

3 Claims.

This invention relates in general to sail assemblies and, more particularly, relates to devices for slidably attaching the edge part of a sail to an adjacent stay rope in order to cause the sail to be guided by the rope as it is raised and lowered. Such devices are usually called sail snaps and will be so referred to in this application.

Sail snaps of the general type of that provided.

by this invention have heretofore been provided and consist, in general, of a central part adapted for attachment to the edge part of the sail and generally parallel legs extending from the centrol partand having oppositely curved, generally parallel hooks on the ends thereof through which the stay rope passes when the snapis in operative position. The structure and use of these snaps will be made more apparent by reference to the disclosure of United States Letters Patent to Evans, No. 520,955, and by the description of the use and operation of this invention and need not be further elaborated here.

My invention has had for its principal object the provision of sail snap of the described type which is of new and improved construction and operation, both at the sail-attached end and at the stay-attached end, which is formed of a single piece of metal rod, which may be easily attached to or removed from the sail at its one end and to the stay rope at its other, which is so constructed that accidental release of the stay rope from the snap is prevented, and which is also so constructed that adjacent snaps will not become tangled or interlocked when the snaps come together on lowering of the sail.

Other objects and features of novelty of my invention will be made apparent by the following description and the annexed drawings which, it will be understood, are only illustrative of the invention and impose no limitation thereon not imposed by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which similar reference numerals refer to like parts,

Fig. 1 shows a fragment of a sail slida-bly attached to a stay rope by a sail snap formed in accordance with this invention, and

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the sail snap of Fig. 1, taken on line 2--2 of Fig. l and showing the other parts in section.

In the drawings there is disclosed a fragment of a sail -2, a stay rope 4, and a sai1 snap 6 which is attached at its one end to the sail and at its other end slidably engages the stay rope and the function of which is to guide the sail along the stay rope as the sail is raised and lowered. The

edge of the sail is hemmed at 8 toreceive a bolt rope I0. Along the edge of the sail, inside the bolt rope, there is provided a series of spaced openings defined by grommets 12, which provide means for attaching the sail snaps to the edge of the sail.

The sail snap provided by my invention is formed from a single piece of round stock. In forming the snap this piece of stock is bent at its center to form a U-shaped part 20 which receives the edge of the sail and embraces the hem 8 and bolt rope Ill. One of the legs 22 (the other being leg 23) formed by this bending is now bent back upon itself to form a substantially circular eye 24 which is adapted and intended to overlie and register with the opening in grommet l2. Ac:- cordingly, the leg 22 must be made of such length that when the eye 24 registers with the grommet opening the U-shaped part 213 will freely engage the edge of the sail Without crowding. After bending to form the eye Z l, the stock is brought back upon itself parallel to leg 22 to form an arm 26 which extends substantially beyond the U-shaped part 26 and at its end is curved through approximately 180 in a plane at right angles to that of the eye 24 to form a hook 2B for receiving the stay rope 4.

The other leg 23 of the U-shaped part ii! is bent in a direction opposite to that of eye 24 to form a second eye 32 Which'is in a plane parallel to and spaced from that of eye 24 in order that when the edge of the sail is received within U- shaped part '20 the eyes 24 and 32 will lie on the opposite sides of the sail and will overlie the grommet i2 and register with the opening therein. After bending to form the eye 32 the stock is brought back upon itself parallel to leg 23 to form an arm 36 which is of the same length as arm 26 and at its outer end part is curved through approximately to form a second hook 38 for receiving the stay rope. Arm 36 is spaced laterally from arm 26 and the two arms therefore lie on opposite sides of the stay rope when the snap is assembled to the rope. In forming hook 38, arm 36 is bent in a direction opposite to the bending of arm 26 in forming hook 28. Each of the arms 26 and 36 therefore acts to close the hook on the other arm.

Means are provided by the invention for preventing the accidental release of the stay rope from the hooks 28, 38 when these parts are assembled. Such means comprise the spacing of the hooks 28, 38 by a distance which is less than the diameter of the stay rope with which the snap is to be used. Because of this relation of parts the hooks must be slightly sprung apart when the stay rope is passed between them in attaching the snap to the stay rope or removing it therefrom. This necessity to spring the hooks apart in removing the stay rope therefrom eficctively prevents accidental removal of the stay rope fromithe hooks after assembly.

Means are; also. provided by the invention. for preventing tangling or interlocking of adjacent sail snaps when they come together in lowering the sail. In the disclosed embodiment of the invention such means consist in the deformation of the parallel arms 26, 36 toward each other at the outer parts thereof, as shown at 45],, 42; whereby the hooks 28, 38 andtheoutermost parts 44, 46 of the arms are spaced more closel than the parts of the arms 26, 36 adjacent the eyes 24, 32. It will be apparent that when the sail snaps come together in lowering the sail the hooks will be the only parts thereof which can become tangled or interlocked. By displacing the hooks inwardly with respect to the other parts of the snap, hooks of adjacent snaps are efiectively kept away from each other and therefore cannot become tangled or interlocked.

In the use and operation of the disclosed sail snap, the snap is assembled to the sail by placing the edge of the sail and the bolt rope it within the U-shaped part. 29 of the snap, in which position the legs 22, 23 will lie on opposite sides of the sail and the eyes 24, 32 will register with the opening in grommet I2. Eastening means, such as bolt 50, may be inserted through the eyes of the sail snap and the opening in the grommet in order to securely and removably attach the snap in place. In this position of the snap the arms 26, 35 will lie on opposite sides of the sail and the hooks 2.8,, 38 at the respective ends thereof will be substantially outside the edge of the sail and in. parallel spaced planes at right angles to the stay rope 4. The stay rope is introduced into the hooks 28, 38 by twistin the sail and sail snap from their normal positions as shown in Fig. 1 until the planes of the hooks are parallel to the stay rope, then forcing the stay rope between the hooks, and then releasin the sail and snap to permit them to return to. normal position. with the stay rope within the hooks and at right angles to the planes of the hooks. The stay rope may be removed from the hooks by the same operation. When placing the stay rope within the hooks or removing it therefrom the arms 26, 36 and the hooks must be sprung apart to permit the rope to be passed between the hooks.

When the sail is lowered, adjacent sail snaps will abut each other, but because of the displacement of the hooks 28, 38 inwardly of the respective arms 26, 30, the hooks of adjacent links will not become tangled or interlocked as only the arms 26, 30 of such adjacent links will abut.

While I have described and illustrated but one embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments, as well as modifications of that disclosed may be made without departing in any way from the spirit or scope of the invention, for the limits of which reference must be made to the appended claims,

What is claimed is:

1. A sail snap for slidably attaching the perforated edge of a sail to a stay rope, having a U- shaped part f-orreceiving the edge of the sail, the legs of said part being oppositely bent into spaced parallelv substantially circular eyes adapted to lie' on opposite, sides of the sail and register with a peitforatiorrmthesail to receive a fastening member for attaching the snap to the sail, arms extending from said eyes parallel to said legs and extending beyond said U-shaped part and terminating in oppositely-directed hooks which lie in spaced planes which, are at right angles to those of the eyes.

2. A sail snap for slidably attaching the perforated. edge of a sail. to a stay rope, having a U- shaped part for receiving the edge of the sail, the legs of said part being oppositely bent into spaced, parallel substantially circular eyes adapted to lie on opposite sides of the sail and register with a perforation in the sail to receive a fastening member for attaching the. snap to the sail, arms extending from said. eyes parallel to said legs and extending beyond said. U-shaped part, and terminating in spaced, oppositely-directed hooks which lie in planes which are at right angles to those of the eyes, said hooks being spaced apart a distance less than. the diameter of the stay rope with which they are designed to. be used whereby they must be sprung apart to permit such rope to be passed between them.

3. A sail snap for slidably attaching the perforated' edge of a sail to a stay rope, having a U- shaped part for receiving the edge of the sail, the legs of said part being oppositely bent into spaced, parallel substantiall circular eyes adapted to lie on opposite sides of the sail and register with a perforation in the sail to receive a fastening member for attachin the snap to the sail, arms extending from said eyes parallel to said legs and extending beyond said U-shaped part and terminatin in oppositely-directed hooks which lie in spaced planes which are at. right angles to those of the eyes, said arms, being displaced toward each other at, and adjacent the hooks whereby the hooks of adjacent snaps are held out of interlocking contact with each other when such adjacent.v hooks abut.

RAYMOND W. COOK.

No references, cited. 

